Jesse Jackson on 'economic apartheid' in South Africa

17 April 2018 - 11:04
By Nico Gous

American Civil Rights stalwart Reverend Jesse Jackson (C) gestures as he waits for the arrival of the coffin of Winnie Mandela, late anti-apartheid icon and ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela at her house in Soweto in Johannesburg on April 13, 2018. File photo.
Image:
GIANLUIGI GUERCIA / AFP

US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson says the struggle must continue against “economic apartheid” in South Africa.

Jackson said freedom was not the only goal of the struggle against apartheid.

“We had to get free to get equal. Whenever the playing field is even and the rules are public and the goals are clear‚ the referee is fair‚ the score is transparent‚” he said on Monday evening.

Jackson‚ 76‚ was speaking at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) in Johannesburg alongside Cooperative Governance and Local Government Minister Zweli Mkhize.

“Why is there not another Sharpeville massacre in South Africa? It’s because of trade. So‚ with the walls down and the struggle and the resistance down‚ investment is coming‚ but investment in the minority regime‚” he said.

Jackson said when he visited South Africa in 1979 there was political apartheid but now the country faced economic apartheid.

He added: “The weapons that we fought with to end apartheid … must now be applied to economic apartheid.”

Jackson said people should know where banks invested.

“They (banks) must not be allowed just to invest in Sandton and don’t invest in Soweto. That’s another struggle. We can fight that struggle‚ but we must engage in it‚” he said.

“Politics changes every term‚ right? Inheritance is perpetual.”

Jackson attended Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral on Saturday at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg. He shed a few tears on Monday evening when he spoke about Madikizela-Mandela. He praised her for being a “light in the tunnel” and keeping the memory of Nelson Mandela alive during his 27 years in prison.

“One light can challenge all the darkness.”

Madikizela-Mandela‚ 81‚ died on April 2 after a lengthy illness. She was buried at the Fourways Memorial Park on Saturday.